Capitol Weekly Insider Survey: Where the Capitol community gets its news

In partnership with Paul Mitchell of Political Data Inc., Capitol Weekly has constructed a series of surveys we think offer the Capitol community and beyond a chance to quickly and anonymously share their thoughts on issues that matter to them and which impact their daily work lives. Our plan to is have a new one for you every few weeks, with a story to follow that sums up what we’ve learned. Our first survey dives into a topic that has come to the fore with the massive changes at Twitter/X – where do Capitol insiders get their news?

During the Arnold Schwarzenegger era, news consumption around the Capitol began to change.

Traditional newspapers had long been the dominant source for news. But then Twitter emerged as a favorite for breaking news, with its immediacy allowing for instant updates on the day’s hearings or budget negotiations or anything else that might be happening right now.

Quickly, the accounts of former reporter John Myers, then with KQED, and the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert became must follows as the social media platform began to rival Rough & Tumble as the most essential website for Capitol news.

More than a decade later, the media landscape has changed again with the decline of traditional media and Elon Musk’s controversial acquisition of Twitter, which he renamed X.

Today, newspapers – particularly the Bee and the Los Angeles Times – are still widely read around the Capitol. But they’ve been usurped by newer online brands while X has surprisingly remained popular with the Capitol community, according to a new poll conducted by Capitol Weekly and Paul Mitchell of Political Data.

This survey is the first in a new, ongoing feature by Capitol Weekly to capture the sentiments and habits of the Capitol community and California voters overall, in partnership with one of the state’s premiere pollsters.

The initial poll, of 233 staffers, lobbyists, political consultants and others who work in state politics, found that CalMatters and Politico are the community’s most turned-to news sources, followed by the Bee and the Times and the Capitol Morning Report.

The Bee and the Times were founded in the second half of the 1800s. CalMatters wasn’t founded until 2015. Politico, first launched in the Beltway in 2007, didn’t become a major player in California politics until 2023 when it expanded in the state.

More than two-thirds of respondents said they regularly turn to CalMatters and Politico as a source of Capitol news when asked about specific news media brands. Nearly a third (the largest percentage) said national newspapers and their websites are their primary news source when asked about general categories of outlets.

Only about 17 percent of respondents said online-only publications are their primary source of Capitol news. Even less, 16 percent, said they looked to local newspapers and their websites. That, of course, reflects the shrinking Capitol press corps along with local California newspapers’ waning enthusiasm for state politics.

But local newspapers performed better than all forms broadcast media, which generally have never covered the Capitol in-depth. Roughly the same number of respondents (about 12 percent) chose social media as their primary source of Capitol news as all broadcast categories combined (local and national television and radio).

The survey also strongly suggests that when members of the Capitol community talk about social media, they are most likely talking about X.

Nationwide, many have ditched X for rival platforms like Threads or Bluesky, in protest over changes made by Musk that have alienated those on the Left. But while Democrats dominate California politics, the trend of abandoning X does not seem to have extended to the Capitol community.

When asked about social media, 65 percent of respondents said they’re on X, following only LinkedIn (more than 68 percent) and Facebook (more than 67 percent), although those two platforms are less often associated with news and analysis.

In fact, a plurality of respondents said if they could only use one social media platform they’d choose X.

In all, more than three-fourths of respondents said they currently have an X account. However, 40 percent of that group said they don’t check it frequently while more than 20 percent said they stopped using it.

More than 13 percent said they used to have an X account but have left the platform.

Of the respondents who said they left or stopped using X, more than 37 percent said they closed their account because Musk bought the platform. Another 33 percent said they left X because of negative discourse on it.

However, of those who reported leaving X, more than 53 percent said they have not moved to another platform.

Then again, Twitter launched in 2006, but it didn’t become a Capital mainstay until 2009, when Myers and Capitol Alert opened their accounts. As the community showed then, and as it’s showing now with its transition from newspapers to online outlets, it’ll go wherever it can get news.

Capitol Weekly reporter Brian Joseph, editor Rich Ehisen and Paul Mitchell of Political Data Inc. contributed to this story.